Oh, hellooooooo. Hello! It's me! How are you? How is your summer? I hope it is going well!

The weather this week has been fairly cool in the morning and blazing hot in the afternoon. I'm finally coming up for air after the past few weeks, which have been overrun with lotion bars and cross-stitch kits. I was really behind. Finally Andy and Katie and I got everything done. It was a great feeling. I literally felt my veins flood with relief when I dropped the last package off at the P.O. Thank you so much to everyone who has been so patient, and thank you to everyone who has written to me and told me that you are pleased with your orders! That makes me feel absolutely great!!! I have a lot of emails to answer and I really am hoping to get to them soon now that I am getting caught up.

The photos are from our front yard. My echinacea is blooming and it is my absolute favorite. Agh. They're such lovely flowers. They seem so emotional. They seem like soulful poets, weary and brave and hopeful. In the very early mornings, I sit in the cool air and wait for the birds to come to our flat feeder. I drink coffee in my nightgown and hope that anyone walking past with a dog, getting in their car to go to work, pushing a grocery-cart full of cans, or jogging down the middle of the street just pretends I am not there. I hear train whistles and birds. Eventually Amelia and Andy come out. Amelia climbs on me or climbs her tree. Andy drinks coffee and pets Clover. Mornings are the nicest. If I ever have a trail name, it's going to be Morning.

So, six weeks of summer left. There are lots of things I want to do and lots of time I just want to spend hanging out. I have lot of things I'm working on that I want to show you. Amelia's been in swimming lessons every morning and will be through this week and next. We'll spend some time at the fountains and the pools and the parks and the river. We're planning to go to the river house we go to every summer for a few days. I have a stack of library books I'm working on. I've designed the fall cross stitch and am starting to stitch it. And I found some delicious soft-serve ice cream with strawberry dust. It's all really been so nice. I have more pictures but I'll save them for another day. I'll have more time, now, to write so you'll see me soon. I hope you are having time yourself to do every summery thing you love. What are those things? Tell me about them. I'd love to hear.

44 comments

How will I ever touch my lotion bar? It’s too pretty, really. I must think of it as a kind of therapy... and dare myself to enjoy the use of it, and try to feel worthy. Summer is my least favorite season, or so I say, and then I am struck by reminders and surprises, like storm clouds, stone fruit, cold showers, and the realization that next comes fall! So, what I most enjoy about summer is discovering, all over again, that it’s actually got some lovely moments and pleasures.

Lovely photos of summer and your adorable darling girl. Congrats on getting all your orders done and dusted! I sure have enjoyed my lotion bar. I'm flying to Ohio in a week to see my daughter and two granddaughters.. it's been 2 years since I've seen them. Enjoy your water fun days. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

My favourite thing to do in the summer is to spend as much time as possible outside. I like to eat outside, read outside, lay on a blanket on the grass, go swimming, watch the birds, and gaze at the sky. We spend so much time inside, that we have to take advantage of the outdoors while we can.

Hmmm, favorite summer things: the escape from routine at the beginning; reading books on the porch; REAL garden tomatoes; peach cobbler; the smell of Coppertone sun lotion; getting disgustingly dirty with sun lotion and sand and sweat at the beach, then showering and eating fresh seafood; the beach between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm; and then the return to routine at the end with the promise of the color orange. Fall is the only time I completely fall in love with the color orange. Love summer, but truly, madly love Fall! P.S. Received my kit, cannot wait to begin stitching, thank you!

Some of my favorite summer things are... all the fresh berries (yum), wearing flip flops, slow mornings with really no schedule most days and doing really whatever we want, no daily homework for the kiddo, being able to walk outside my front door and cut fresh flowers for the house... that's the best!

My favourite summer things here in France....knitting or crocheting in the garden...picking a salad of mixed leaves entirely from the garden....cutting courgettes and cucumbers and eating them freshly picked....drying the laundry outside....barbecuing and eating outside....a glass of chilled Rosé wine.....

Thank you so much for the wonderful lotion bars. I bought them for the knitters in the family but hate to give them up! (I will, I promise!)
You take such beautiful care in preparing them for mailing, packaging, and the amazing product itself. Lovely.
Mary Ahearn

I have to say thank you too for my amazing lotion bar! I'm dreading the day that I smoosh all the beautiful flowers on top and so far have found a way to keep them in tack. Your mornings sound like an absolute dream. I'm taking notes from you for what to do. My summer favorite is watching the fireflies at night and visiting a lavender field once a year if I can. xx

I get up REALLY early (no one who knows me well will ever believe that) and sit on the second-story deck drinking coffee, listening to birds, smelling those clean, clear morning scents of geranium and daphne and Sweet William. Yes, in my nightgown too. There is something special and childhood-like about being outdoors in your nightclothes, isn't there?

Summer fruit is my favorite part of the season and I especially love a good roadside produce stand. In the evenings, my neighbor and I chat across our yards as we both water our sun parched plants after the sun is finally hidden behind the hills. I love how late it is before it gets dark and watching the hummingbirds fighting over the feeders before they go whereever it is they go to sleep....Your lotion bars were so beautiful! I would have ordered some in an instant if I could.

I’ve got an email that my summer kit had been shipped last week and it made me so happy! Hopefully I’ll get it in few weeks) I missed your posts and your pictures, hope you’ll be here more often. What I love about the summer is sun and warm weather, walking and watching birds during weekends in the parks, taking food with you, reading books in the woods (we have a little tradition of reading aloud to each other), just sit and watch the trees and the sky, talk a lot, dream a lot.. After 7 month of cold weather summer is so precious. Especially since we hardly had any warmth last year. I live in an city with quite an industrial view, but I love sitting in my 9th floor balcony, windows open and watch the seagulls flying back and forth, laughing at something and talking to each other. They usually come in May and leave us in September, so their sound means Summer.

I just received the new cross stitch pattern, and it is one of the most beautiful I have ever worked with. I can not wait to hang it in Emma Jeanne's new room. Thank you for the beauty you always create.

I bought a new puppy about six weeks ago, so I have been outside more this summer than I have been in years. Goodness me! I had to put my last dog down in November, and she was almost 17 years old. It's been a long time since I've had a puppy---she is friendly and sweet and cute and making me crazy all at the same time! (She is a three pound attention ho'.) I'm sure you'll understand that I can't wait to see how big she will be this winter so I can knit a few sweaters for her---I really hope she likes to wear clothes.

No need to respond to my e-mail I sent earlier. I just love my lotion bars (grudgingly gave one to my adult daughter) and the yarn is so beautiful. I think I'm going to knit a cabled hat with it. Oh and I also got my crochet kit that is going to be so lovely when I get a few minutes to start it. Thank you Alicia for always going the extra mile to do quality work. I never have to worry with anything you put out.

Oh Alicia. You do such a wonderful job capturing joy! I have been following your blog for years and absolutely delight in seeing a fresh post and always sit with a cuppa to enjoy reading about your life in Portland. I love every season, but summer gets the #2 spot after glorious fall. I love wild blueberries and consume an outrageous amount, for an equally outrageous price between July and September. They are healthy, and the flavour just can't be beat, especially paired with some vanilla ice cream or lemon yogurt. Thank you Alicia for your kind and loving stories!

A few things I love about summer-- The way the earth absorbs the heat of the sun, and how the sidewalks stay warm long after the sun has gone down. My neighborhood trees, so lush and green, concealing bird song and casting large swaths of cool shade. I especially like to think of the owls in my neighborhood, completely hidden and napping during the day. The riotous color and intoxicating perfume of the farmer's market on a July morning. Apricots. Nectarines. Cold melon. The scent of the river that runs near my home. Shimmering heat.

My 32 yr old designer/dancer/writer daughter married the love of her life in a beautiful ceremony on a warm spring day ( May 19) here in San Diego. Everything and everyone was stunning, it took my breath away to listen to their vows, and her twin brother was her man-of-honor.
I'm still recovering, lol!
As a teacher I have learned to really bask in summer's awesomeness.

I've been sitting in a deckchair, half watching my ten year old play cricket, half making notes for what will one day be my first novel, I hope. I have far too many books on my summer reading pile, but I like to pretend there will be time to sit in the sun and read them all. You write so enchantingly about mornings. It has been the same here in the UK. By the afternoon we are hot, hot, hot, but the mornings are magical. The doors and windows are always open, which is unusual for England, and the grass has dried to a pale brown crisp. But it's utterly glorious, never having to take a cardigan, never feeling chilly, enjoying the sun on my skin (but not too much of course). It is all cricket and strawberries and cream and blue ice lollies and the dog laid out on the cool doormat with his ear flapped up to keep cool, dreaming of chasing his chums round the park. Summer, I love it. Love, love, love it. Glad you have a little more time now, hope you enjoy it too. CJ xx

About

My name is Alicia Paulsonand I love to make things. I live with my husband and daughter in Portland, Oregon, and design sewing, embroidery, knitting, and crochet patterns. See more about me at aliciapaulson.com